Changhong

{{Short description|Chinese electronics company}} {{other uses}} {{Expand Chinese|date=July 2022|长虹电器}} {{Infobox company | name = Sichuan Changhong Electric Co., Ltd. | trading_name = Changhong CHiQ | native_name = 四川长虹电器股份有限公司 | native_name_lang = zh | logo = Changhong.svg | logo_upright = .8 | logo_caption = Changhong (domestic) logo | image = CHiQ.svg | image_size = 180px | image_caption = ChiQ (international) logo | type = Public | traded_as = {{SSE|600839}} | foundation = {{start date and age|1958|10}} | location_city = Mianyang | location_country = China | area_served = Worldwide | key_people = Zhao Yong 赵勇 (President) Wang Fengzhao 王凤朝 (Vice Chairman, General Manager) Liu Tibing 刘体斌 (Vice Chairman, Deputy General Manager) Tan Mingxian 谭明献 (Secretary, Board of Directors, Deputy General Manager) | industry = Electronics | revenue = {{increase}} 108.2 billion CNY<ref name="SAfinancial">{{cite web |url=https://stockanalysis.com/quote/sha/600839/financials/ |title=SHA:600839 Income Statement |publisher=stockanalysis.com |access-date=January 2, 2026}}</ref> (September 2025) | operating_income = {{increase}} 1.8 billion CNY<ref name="SAfinancial"/> (September 2025) | num_employees = 45,376<ref name="SAemployees">{{cite web |url=https://stockanalysis.com/quote/sha/600839/employees/ |title=Sichuan Changhong Electric (SHA:600839) Number of Employees |publisher=stockanalysis.com |access-date=January 2, 2026}}</ref> (2024) | homepage = {{URL|https://cn.changhong.com|cn.changhong.com}} {{URL|https://www.chiq.com|chiq.com}} }}

'''Sichuan Changhong Electric Co., Ltd.''', doing business as '''Changhong''' ({{Lang-zh|s=长虹|labels=no}}) domestically and '''CHiQ''' internationally,<ref>{{Cite web |title=四川长虹简介 |url=https://group.changhong.com/gyzh_260/zhgk/ |access-date=2022-08-16 |website=group.changhong.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=About CHiQ |url=https://www.chiq.com/home/about/chiq.html |access-date=2022-08-16 |website=www.chiq.com}}</ref> is a Chinese consumer electronics company based in Mianyang, Sichuan,<ref>"[http://www.changhong.com/changhong_en/about_en/12227.htm Contact Us]." Changhong. Retrieved on August 5, 2015. "Head Office Address: 35 East Mianxing Road, High-Tech Park, Mianyang, Sichuan, China" [http://www.changhong.com.cn/lianxi.htm Chinese address]: "四川省绵阳市高新区绵兴东路35号"</ref> founded in October 1958. In 2004, 90 percent of the television sets exported from China to the United States were made by Changhong.<ref>{{cite news |title=Changhong, China's largest TV exporter, announces a huge loss |newspaper=The New York Times |date=29 December 2004 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/28/technology/28iht-yuan.html | first=Chris | last=Buckley}}</ref> It was the second-largest manufacturer of televisions in China as of 2010.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-08-03/changhong-jianghuai-auto-tcl-zijin-china-equity-preview.html |title=Changhong, Jianghuai Auto, TCL, Zijin: China Equity Preview |date=3 August 2010 |publisher=Bloomberg}}{{dead link|date=April 2023|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> In 2024, Changhong ranked 283rd on World Brand Lab's "World's 500 Most Influential Brand's" list.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://group.changhong.com/xwzx_255/mtbd/202412/t20241219_392377.html|title=世界品牌500强”发榜，长虹全球排名再升2位|website=Changhong|date=19 December 2024|language=zh}}</ref>

Changhong makes televisions, white goods such as refrigerators and air conditioners, as well as projectors and DVD players, electronic components and batteries.<ref name="about2025">{{Cite web |title = About Changhong |website = Changhong UK |url = https://www.changhong.co.uk/about-changhong/ |url-status = live |access-date = 2025-08-09 |archive-url = https://archive.today/20250809185227/https://www.changhong.co.uk/about-changhong/ |archive-date = 2025-08-09 |language = en}}</ref><ref name="Bloomberg.com">{{Cite web | title = Sichuan Changhong Electric Co Ltd | website = Bloomberg | url = https://www.bloomberg.com/profile/company/600839:CH | url-status = live | access-date = 2025-05-19 | archive-url = https://archive.today/20250519095235/https://www.bloomberg.com/profile/company/600839:CH | archive-date = 2025-05-19 | language = en }}</ref> Changhong has also released some mobile phone models.<ref name="gizchina2013">{{Cite web |author = Andi |title = Changhong Z9 packs 5000mAh battery, quad-core CPU and 5.5-inch display |date = 2013-10-13 |website = Gizchina |url = https://www.gizchina.com/2013/10/13/changhong-z9-packs-5000mah-battery-quad-core-cpu-5-5-inch-display/ |url-status = live |access-date = 2025-08-09 |archive-url = https://archive.today/20250809191348/https://www.gizchina.com/2013/10/13/changhong-z9-packs-5000mah-battery-quad-core-cpu-5-5-inch-display/ |archive-date = 2025-08-09 |language = en}}</ref><ref name="pconline2012">{{Cite web |author = ditalee |title = 3.7寸屏Android机长虹HONPhone V8评测 |date = 2012-05-25 |website = PConline |url = https://mobile.pconline.com.cn/review/solo/1205/2801413_all.html |url-status = live |access-date = 2025-08-09 |archive-url = https://archive.today/20250809202023/https://mobile.pconline.com.cn/review/solo/1205/2801413_all.html |archive-date = 2025-08-09 |language = zh}}</ref><ref name="cnet2017">{{Cite web |first = Lynn |last = La |title = Changhong H2 review: Phone with ‘infrared vision’ knows how fat you are (hands-on) |date = 2017-01-05 |website = CNET |url = https://www.cnet.com/reviews/changhong-h2-preview/ |url-status = live |access-date = 2025-08-09 |archive-url = https://archive.today/20250809185142/https://www.cnet.com/reviews/changhong-h2-preview/#selection-5809.0-5809.142 |archive-date = 2025-08-09 |language = en}}</ref>

== History ==

=== 1950–1999 === Changhong emerged from the Changhong Machinery Factory, which was a state-owned large enterprise established in the 1950s.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=The Implementation of China's Science and Technology Policy|last=Yu|first=Q.Y.|publisher=Quorum Books|year=1999|isbn=1567203329|location=Westport, CT|pages=193}}</ref> The company, which was part of the 156 key projects that were aided by the Soviet Union, focused on the development and production of airborne fire control radar system.<ref name=":0" />

Changhong Electronics developed during the Third Front campaign to develop basic industry and national defense industry in China's interior in case of invasion by the Soviet Union or United States.<ref name=":02">{{Cite book |last=Meyskens |first=Covell F. |url= |title=Mao's Third Front: The Militarization of Cold War China |date=2020 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-108-78478-8 |location=Cambridge, United Kingdom |doi=10.1017/9781108784788 |oclc=1145096137 |s2cid=218936313}}</ref>{{Rp|pages=4, 219}} Changong Electronics is the best-known electronics manufacturer to arise during the Third Front period.<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=219}}

By mid-1970s, Changhong began manufacturing products for civilian use when demand for military hardware declined, eventually focusing on the television product line.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title=Strategic Marketing: Creating Competitive Advantage, 2nd ed.|last=West|first=Douglas|last2=Ford|first2=John|last3=Ibrahim|first3=Essam|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2012|isbn=9780199556601|location=Oxford|pages=558}}</ref> During the next decade, it beefed up its technological capabilities with a series of partnerships with overseas companies such as Panasonic, from which it imported tubes and advanced production lines to drive the volume production of television.<ref name=":0" /> It was a major driver in the regional share of television production in inland China rising from 0 to 32% of national production.<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=219}} In 1980, the company already boasted the production of over 10,000 television units annually and by 1988, this number rose to almost a million units.<ref name=":1" /> In 1994, the company was listed as a publicly traded company and, a year later, it was recognized as China's largest television manufacturer.<ref name=":1" />

=== 2000–present === In 2001, Changhong reached an agreement with David Ji, the chairman of the American company Apex Digital.<ref name=dispute>Joseph Kahn (November 1, 2005). [https://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/01/world/asia/dispute-leaves-us-executive-in-chinese-legal-netherworld.html "Dispute Leaves U.S. Executive in Chinese Legal Netherworld,"] ''The New York Times''.</ref> Changhong was at that point China's largest television manufacturer, a supplier majority-owned by the company-town city of Mianyang and the province of Sichuan.<ref name=dispute/> The company provided two-thirds of the city of Mianyang's revenue, and Changhong's chairman and managing director Zhao Yong was until late 2004 the city's deputy mayor.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/18/business/worldbusiness/efforts-continue-to-win-release-of-american-in-china.html "Efforts Continue to Win Release of American in China,"] The New York Times.</ref> Changhong became Apex's largest supplier of DVD players.<ref name=dispute/>

On October 23, 2004, as Apex was in a business dispute with Changhong in which the two companies argued over hundreds of millions of dollars, as Ji was in China on a business trip he was arrested by Mianyang police in his hotel room in Shenzhen, China, near Hong Kong, who came from 500 miles away from Shenzhen.<ref name=forb>{{cite web|url=http://www.forbes.com/business/free_forbes/2005/1114/142.html|title=Held Hostage In China|website=Forbes |date=1 November 2005|url-status=bot: unknown|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20051101041242/http://www.forbes.com/business/free_forbes/2005/1114/142.html|archivedate=1 November 2005}}</ref><ref name=dispute/><ref>{{cite news |title=U.S. Embassy Confirms Arrest Of Apex Digital Chief in China |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB110444578569613253 |access-date=18 May 2022 |work=The Wall Street Journal |date=31 December 2004}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=US company boss arrested in China |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4134349.stm |access-date=18 May 2022 |date=30 December 2004}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Arrest of Apex Digital Chairman in China Confirmed |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-dec-30-fi-chinatv30-story.html |access-date=18 May 2022 |work=The Los Angeles Times |date=30 December 2004}}</ref> Changhong accused Ji of defrauding them through bad checks.<ref name=wrong>{{cite news |title=The Price Is Wrong |url=https://spectrum.ieee.org/the-price-is-wrong |access-date=18 May 2022 |work=IEEE Spectrum |date=1 March 2005 |language=en}}</ref> He was held in China by Changhong for months without charges.<ref name=dispute/><ref name=forb/> On May 28, 2005, Ji was formally arrested on charges of "financial instrument fraud."<ref name=dispute/> In police custody, his conditions improved.<ref name=dispute/> In June 2005, Apex acknowledged a $150 million debt, but the debt remained unpaid as Apex said it did not have any money.<ref name=dispute/> In August 2005, the police released Ji on restricted bail, without him being indicted.<ref name=dispute/>

Since 2004, Changhong's development strategy and operating mechanism system have changed from time to time, and the industrial scale has expanded rapidly, becoming the leading enterprise in the domestic intelligent integration industry layout. It owns four listed companies including Sichuan Changhong, Changhong Meiling, Changhong Huayi and Changhong Jiahua.{{Citation needed|date=June 2022}} Changhong has a minimal presence in North America, where as of 2021 it sold TVs through the online retailer Newegg. It markets its brand CHIQ in United States.<ref>{{Cite web|title=About – CHiQ|url=https://www.chiqamerica.com/about/|access-date=2021-02-08|language=en}}</ref> Another line of products is the manufacturing of nickel–iron batteries.{{fact|date=December 2024}}

== Leadership == {| class="wikitable" !Presidents of Changhong !Year |- |Ma Zhang |1957–1961 |- |Shi Fu |1962–1964 |- |Wang Zhidong |1966–1974 |- |Kang Naide |1975–1980 |- |Hu Zhengxing |1981–1982 |- |Wang Jincheng |1983–1984 |- |Ni Runfeng |1985–2004 |- |Zhao Yong |2004–2023 |- |Liu Jiang |2023–present |}

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== * [http://www.changhong.com/ Official website]

Category:Companies based in Sichuan Category:Electronics companies established in 1958 Category:1958 establishments in China Category:Display technology companies Category:Electronics companies of China Category:Chinese brands Category:1994 initial public offerings